Irish/McLoughlin/Sweeney Research - Part Two
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| from Ron Doke on Flickr |
Are you looking for a coherent post about researching Irish ancestors?
Um...you won't get it on this blog.....think more along the lines of musings from a bemused family historian blundering her way around different resources and trying to find what works without spending too much $.....
Let me tell you what I've been up to.....
So...last night I did a bit more reading and perusing of websites and I came across this one....Roots Ireland. I'd been to it before - only I'd forgotten....you know when you try to register for a site and it tells you you've already registered. Oh dear! Alzheimers has well and truly set in.
Anyway...I was frustrated and thought I'd try looking for Patrick McLoughlin's birth/baptism again....Roots Ireland seemed promising.
I looked for Patrick McLoughlin with father Owen and mother Bridget Sweeny in County Sligo...
Zip.
Hmmm....I thought. Let's give Bridget a miss. I got that information from his death certificate - that could be dicey info. Let's try just looking for Owen as the father (which I got from his marriage certificate).
Nothing.
You're kidding me????
Okay...let's try Bridget.
Bingo two results.....Needless to say...it was the second result which had the information I was looking for.
A Church Baptism record for Patrick McLaughlin
Date of Baptism: 7 Mar 1833 (this closely matches the ages on the shipping list, his marriage certificate and death certificate)
Parish/District: Templeboy
County: Co. Sligo
Denomination: Roman Catholic
Mother: Bridget Sweeny
Father: John
Sponsor 1/Informant 1: Michael Dunn Sponsor2/Informant 2: Maria Dunn
Yes I know it's McLaughlin rather than McLoughlin but spelling is always an issue in family history. On his death certificate it's McLaughlin. On his marriage certificate I think it looks like McLoughlin.
So now, I discover that Patrick's father was not Owen, but John. And that he was born in Templeboy. I spend a lot of time trying to find Templeboy. It seems it is now called something else.
Hmmmm....interesting......so then I was up half the night trying to cross reference results in the Griffiths's Valuations for John, Bridget and Owen. Not much joy really but half a ream of paper later.....
I flapped about a bit more and then reserved John Grenham's book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors (which I've borrowed once before - it was impressive but a bit overwhelming when you've got no idea what you're doing) and Chris Paton's book Tracing your Family History on the Internet.
The next day I went to work and picked up The Irish Family and Local History Handbook as well and pondered that at night.
The real joy and find though was dear John Grenham's book. I reckon it's worth it's weight in gold. It turned up at work the next day on reservation from another library in the region. Have I told you how much I like working in libraries? It's the best gig - honestly - I am in heaven.
So John Grenham's book was able to tell me the LDS film number for the parish of Templeboy. Oh, I see...Templeboy is a parish, not a town...right. And then I see in brackets after the name of Templeboy the name Killala. What does that mean? Does that mean that the parish goes by two different names? Read the table carefully Alex...it means Diocese, whatever that means. Google Diocese and Parish. Hmmm....I think a Diocese is bigger than a Parish. Hmm...
I ordered the film from the LDS the next day. Easy peasy. Lemon squeezy. $7.75 for 60 days. What a bargain. I wonder how long it will take to arrive.....
Time to go back and look at the half ream of paper.
I found what I think might be the Dunns or at least Michael Dunn but this is when I start to notice discrepancies between Origins and Ask About Ireland. When I search for Michael Dunn in Sligo on Ask About Ireland, I get 1 result - Michael Dunn in the parish of St John. Origins returns 4 results - Michael Dunne in Killoran, Skreen and Templeboy and Michael Dunn in St John. Who do I go with? Do I choose the one in Templeboy or the one spelled "correctly" in St John. The one in Templeboy lives in the townland of Kilrusheighter. The one in St John lives in the townland of Carrownamaddoo.
Let's go back and look at the Bridgets we found:
Ask About Ireland says there are no Bridget Sweenys in Templeboy in the Griffith's Valuations.
There are 3 Bridget Sweenys in Sligo - 2 in Ahamlish and 1 in Kilglass.
Origins also says there are no Bridget Sweenys in Templeboy either
Origins says there are 5 Bridget Sweenys in Sligo - or 5 results. 2 in Ahamlish, 2 in Kilfree and 1 in Kilglass. The townlands are: Bunduff, Kilfree, Mullaghroe and Culleens.
I need to put these on a map to see where they all are...
Ask About Ireland says there are no John McLaughlins in Sligo on Griffiths
They say there are 29 John McLoughlins in Co Sligo.
Origins says there are 26 John McLoughlins in Sligo and no John McLaughlins.
None of the Townlands match Bridget or Michael. Matching parishes are Ahamlish and St Johns. Ahlamlish townlands are Ballyscannel and Grange. St Johns is Town Sligo or Derrydarragh.
Oh dear, it's all very tedious isn't it?
There's a bit of me that thinks - okay - let's look for Bridget's marriage. But I'm not really having much joy with that either.
There are 9 results for Bridget Sweeny in Sligo on Roots Ireland. None of them are for a John or an Owen or a McLoughlin!
I think now that I really have to go back to Australia and try and discover if Patrick came out with siblings and what those siblings were called and where they were born and who their parents were.....back to the long and winding lane of more research....
Um...you won't get it on this blog.....think more along the lines of musings from a bemused family historian blundering her way around different resources and trying to find what works without spending too much $.....
Let me tell you what I've been up to.....
So...last night I did a bit more reading and perusing of websites and I came across this one....Roots Ireland. I'd been to it before - only I'd forgotten....you know when you try to register for a site and it tells you you've already registered. Oh dear! Alzheimers has well and truly set in.
Anyway...I was frustrated and thought I'd try looking for Patrick McLoughlin's birth/baptism again....Roots Ireland seemed promising.
I looked for Patrick McLoughlin with father Owen and mother Bridget Sweeny in County Sligo...
Zip.
Hmmm....I thought. Let's give Bridget a miss. I got that information from his death certificate - that could be dicey info. Let's try just looking for Owen as the father (which I got from his marriage certificate).
Nothing.
You're kidding me????
Okay...let's try Bridget.
 |
| from Martathegoodone on Flickr |
Bingo two results.....Needless to say...it was the second result which had the information I was looking for.
A Church Baptism record for Patrick McLaughlin
Date of Baptism: 7 Mar 1833 (this closely matches the ages on the shipping list, his marriage certificate and death certificate)
Parish/District: Templeboy
County: Co. Sligo
Denomination: Roman Catholic
Mother: Bridget Sweeny
Father: John
Sponsor 1/Informant 1: Michael Dunn Sponsor2/Informant 2: Maria Dunn
Yes I know it's McLaughlin rather than McLoughlin but spelling is always an issue in family history. On his death certificate it's McLaughlin. On his marriage certificate I think it looks like McLoughlin.
So now, I discover that Patrick's father was not Owen, but John. And that he was born in Templeboy. I spend a lot of time trying to find Templeboy. It seems it is now called something else.
 |
| The only Creative Commons licence photo of Templeoby on Flickr by Mark Couvillion |
Hmmmm....interesting......so then I was up half the night trying to cross reference results in the Griffiths's Valuations for John, Bridget and Owen. Not much joy really but half a ream of paper later.....
I flapped about a bit more and then reserved John Grenham's book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors (which I've borrowed once before - it was impressive but a bit overwhelming when you've got no idea what you're doing) and Chris Paton's book Tracing your Family History on the Internet.
The next day I went to work and picked up The Irish Family and Local History Handbook as well and pondered that at night.
The real joy and find though was dear John Grenham's book. I reckon it's worth it's weight in gold. It turned up at work the next day on reservation from another library in the region. Have I told you how much I like working in libraries? It's the best gig - honestly - I am in heaven.
So John Grenham's book was able to tell me the LDS film number for the parish of Templeboy. Oh, I see...Templeboy is a parish, not a town...right. And then I see in brackets after the name of Templeboy the name Killala. What does that mean? Does that mean that the parish goes by two different names? Read the table carefully Alex...it means Diocese, whatever that means. Google Diocese and Parish. Hmmm....I think a Diocese is bigger than a Parish. Hmm...
I ordered the film from the LDS the next day. Easy peasy. Lemon squeezy. $7.75 for 60 days. What a bargain. I wonder how long it will take to arrive.....
Time to go back and look at the half ream of paper.
I found what I think might be the Dunns or at least Michael Dunn but this is when I start to notice discrepancies between Origins and Ask About Ireland. When I search for Michael Dunn in Sligo on Ask About Ireland, I get 1 result - Michael Dunn in the parish of St John. Origins returns 4 results - Michael Dunne in Killoran, Skreen and Templeboy and Michael Dunn in St John. Who do I go with? Do I choose the one in Templeboy or the one spelled "correctly" in St John. The one in Templeboy lives in the townland of Kilrusheighter. The one in St John lives in the townland of Carrownamaddoo.
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| Sligo Harbour from Niall on Flickr |
Let's go back and look at the Bridgets we found:
Ask About Ireland says there are no Bridget Sweenys in Templeboy in the Griffith's Valuations.
There are 3 Bridget Sweenys in Sligo - 2 in Ahamlish and 1 in Kilglass.
Origins also says there are no Bridget Sweenys in Templeboy either
Origins says there are 5 Bridget Sweenys in Sligo - or 5 results. 2 in Ahamlish, 2 in Kilfree and 1 in Kilglass. The townlands are: Bunduff, Kilfree, Mullaghroe and Culleens.
I need to put these on a map to see where they all are...
Ask About Ireland says there are no John McLaughlins in Sligo on Griffiths
They say there are 29 John McLoughlins in Co Sligo.
Origins says there are 26 John McLoughlins in Sligo and no John McLaughlins.
None of the Townlands match Bridget or Michael. Matching parishes are Ahamlish and St Johns. Ahlamlish townlands are Ballyscannel and Grange. St Johns is Town Sligo or Derrydarragh.
Oh dear, it's all very tedious isn't it?
There's a bit of me that thinks - okay - let's look for Bridget's marriage. But I'm not really having much joy with that either.
There are 9 results for Bridget Sweeny in Sligo on Roots Ireland. None of them are for a John or an Owen or a McLoughlin!
I think now that I really have to go back to Australia and try and discover if Patrick came out with siblings and what those siblings were called and where they were born and who their parents were.....back to the long and winding lane of more research....
 |
| Knockmore Co. Sligo by Irish Dominican Foundations on Flickr |
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